After today – less than a month to go! Updates! Thursday, May 31 2012 

crafts and food and Hammond Castle and Performers and Renaissance Festival and Vendors , , , , , giazzpet 7:12 pm

So, finally we have some updates, and we’re planning on meeting with The City of Gloucester after June 15th to discuss this event.

In the meantime, we can tell you the few updates that we have:

For vendors:

  • Mehndi Spirithttp://mehndispirit.webs.com/ that does an amazing job with hand painted Henna (all natural)
  • Dell’s Lemonade- frozen lemonade & watermelon drinks – need I say more?
  • Kettle Master – Kettle Corn – fresh and HOT!

For performers we’re adding a returning group:

Diabolis in Musica  : This group has medieval type instruments and takes Rock and Roll to a Medieval level…yeah…they are fun!

More details will be coming very shortly so stay tuned!  We’ll also have the press release ready to go once the City gives us the green light (which we are hoping does happen).

 

 

What you can expect this season for 2012 Friday, Apr 13 2012 

Art and crafts and food and Hammond Castle and jewelry and magic and Performers and Pottery and Renaissance Festival and story telling and Vendors , , giazzpet 7:33 pm

Merriment, excitement and more?  Oh yes, that is in store if you and your family come visit Abbadia Mare Renaissance Festival scheduled this July of 2012.  So without further ado, let’s introduce the vendors and performers we’ll have for this season – shall we?

Vendors for 2012

  1. Antika Nueva – http://www.antikanueva.com – sells hand made soaps, goos that help with a lot of different ailments, jewelery, head pieces and so much more!
  2. IronWood Artisans – http://www.ironwoodartisans.com/ – sells handmade wooden toys, games, jewelry, musical instruments and housewares
  3. WolfsHead Whatever – Chain Maille, shawls and banners along with jewelry
  4. The Stone Lady – http://thestonelady.net/ – will be doing readings by stones in the library
  5. (NEW) Esme’s Heart Pockets – http://www.esmesheartpockets.com/esmesheartpockets.com/Home.html – kilt pins and Heart Pockets
  6. (NEW) Emazanti Creati0ns – Excellent Garb for all ages
  7. Cornerstone Creations – http://stores.ebay.com/Petes-Cornerstone-Creations – concrete items for your garden or home (with gnomes no less ;))
  8. PupDog Pottery and DeepWater Dye Works – hand made pottery and hand made yarn go hand in hand – fiber is also available
  9. Resa Nelson – Author of DragonSlayer’s Sword http://www.resanelson.com/ – she just finished The Iron Maiden (book 2 of DragonSlayers Sword)
  10. (NEW) Earth Bound Journals –http://earthboundjournals.com/ – Leather journals and bags
  11. (NEW) BlackSwann Masques – http://www.blackswannmasques.com/ – amazingly beautiful handcrafted leather masques and more
  12. Parrish Relics – http://www.parrishrelics.com/ – handcrafted jewelry made for the Stars (yeah, like famous people!)
  13. MoonDragon Designs – http://www.moondragondesigns.com/store/ – handcrafted jewelry, mittens, cloaks and other items
  14. Nourish Lexington – http://www.nourishlexington.com/ – yummy food – including barbequed ribs and wings!

(More to be listed soon)

Performers for 2012

  1. Rufus – our roaming Mud beggar – he loves to “stalk” people with his celery sticks
  2. Neville Companye – http://www.rainasmind.com/neville/index.shtml – Knights in shining armor battling it out for honor
  3. Story Telling by Kate (of Antika Nueva)
  4. Misfits of Avalon – http://www.misfitsofavalon.com – these are very talented musicians that include 2  incredibly talented kids (age 12 and 8) – with sounds that will just give you goose bumps (in a good way)
  5. (NEW) Days Of Knights – http://www.daysofknights.net/From their website: Days of Knights is a New Jersey-based organization providing educational entertainment for children and their families.

    Through a unique fusion of medieval history and storytelling, we deliver an engaging, interactive, hands-on experience that inspires young learners. Stories were a major form of entertainment throughout history, and they act as our link back to Medieval Europe — back to the days of kings and castles, sword-fights and jousts, adventure and romance, chivalry and honor.

  6. The Harper and The Minstrel (only Saturday) – http://www.theharperandtheminstrel.com/ – very soothing Celtic and Older music.
  7. Tom Foolery – http://www.fooltales.com/Fooltales/main.html?src=%2FFooltales%2Findex.html#1,0 – Silly Magician
  8. Guy Todd – our roaming Harpist
  9. Dirge Queen – singing Dirges and other songs
  10. Granny Gruesome’s Gleeful Tales – http://www.reverbnation.com/grannygruesomesgleefultales# – singing zombie Grandmother – but not so scary 😀
  11. Gypsy Assasins – Belly Dancing Divas
  12. Faire Maid Fiddler – our very own roaming fiddler

Whew, that’s all for now folks!  Stay tuned for more updates!

 

Have yourself an Abbadia Mare Holiday! Part ONE Friday, Dec 9 2011 

Art and crafts and food and Holidays and jewelry and Uncategorized and Vendors , , , , giazzpet 8:34 pm

If you came to our little festival, then you know that we were cramped with many different vendors – We’d ask that you check them out this Holiday season and buy something local.  Since we had so many vendors and this post is getting really rather long, I’ll post more next week (I promise) for more vendors – and then I’ll do the final post for the Holidays on all the amazing performers we had.

Antika Nueva – http://www.antikanueva.com/ has some great wire jewelry, hand made soaps and this stuff called “goo” – I tell you, that stuff is just amazing! You can go to Etsy (r) and buy stuff from her store online.

CornerStone Creations http://stores.ebay.com/Petes-Cornerstone-Creations has some great concrete benches/gnomes/wall art and so much more for your home or garden.

Aetas Designs http://aetasdesigns.com/aetas/    has fabric and can make you any historically designed garment – she’s also got fabulous trim too

Lost Art Chains http://www.lostartchains.com/  has some great chain maille and other items

Art Gecko Tattoos http://www.artgeckotattoos.com/   has some great gift certificates available for those who are interested in body art (or tattoos) 🙂

Cucina Aurora http://www.cucinaaurora.com/ who has unbelievably yummy infused olive oils and dips – plus she just came out with a NEW cookbook!  Yeah!  Great for those cooks or the chef in your family!

MoonDragon Designs http://www.moondragondesigns.com/store/index.php has some cool wire jewelry and some home made capes – great lady too!

Parrish Relics http://www.parrishrelics.com/ makes jewelry for the Stars!  No really – like famous people!  Check it out!  She hand makes everything and it looks just amazing.

Oh and yes, a small tease…I have news….but I can’t share yet….heh heh heh

 

Thankful for all of you who support us Wednesday, Nov 23 2011 

food and Hammond Castle and Performers and Renaissance Festival and Vendors , , , , giazzpet 4:07 pm

This is just a post to say thank you to all of YOU who have supported us either with this festival or Winslowshire Festival (which is no longer going to happen, see our other blog at http://www.winslowshire.wordpress.com).

 

We’d also like to thank all of our vendors and performers (and of course our hard working cast and crew) that came to our event.  We hope that you and your families have a nice Thanksgiving.

For those of you who came to our festival, we can’t thank you enough, and of course, our host – The Hammond Castle (http://www.hammondcastle.org)  for letting us come out and play.

Our only request now is that you go to our website http://www.abbadiamarefestival.com and click on any of the vendors or performers and buy something local and hand made for your Holiday gifts – there are quite a few options, and I will post about them come closer to the Holiday time (er, like December sometime…).  Plenty of music to go around too!

Thank you!

 

 

Success for a first year! Thank YOU! Friday, Jul 29 2011 

crafts and food and Hammond Castle and magic and Performers and Renaissance Festival and Uncategorized and Vendors , , , , giazzpet 2:57 pm

We just wanted to say Thank You to ALL who came, posted, promoted, helped in any way for our little festival at Hammond Castle.

We also learned a lot when it came to the City of Gloucester, (http://www.gloucester-ma.gov) who we want to thank for all their assistance and kindness to us for our first year of learning curves.

We also want to give a Big Shout OUT to Atlantic ATM out of Ipswitch, MA (http://www.atlanticatm.com) who came out to Hammond Castle (http://www.hammondcastle.org) and figured out a way to get a signal so that people could get $$ out to pay vendors/castle, and also for food!

The Friday prior for our set up was brutal due to the 106 temps outside as well as the not so lovely green head flies that constantly kept biting all of us (oh and there seemed like 1000’s of them in that awful heat) – but we had plenty of water on hand and everyone in the crew took breaks.

Saturday was a little slow due to the heat, but we still managed to have a good time with all the performers and no matter where you went, there was always something going on.

Sunday was much better day all around, we had to make a few minor adjustments (which we did, for the better of the festival, I mean, who knew that tables facing the overlook to eat food would be so fantastic!) – we ended with 26 vendors all over the Castle (inside and out).

There are pictures up on Facebook everywhere, and there are a lot of videos up from YouTube – so look for them!

The totals to the castle was $8,699 (anyone have a buck? Just kidding) – so all in all grand success for our first year!

Thank you to all our performers, vendors and of course our amazing Cast and Crew!  Without you, we don’t know where we would be!

Hip Hip Huzzah!

 

Less than a month to go! Thank you so far for your support! Friday, Jun 17 2011 

Art and crafts and food and Hammond Castle and jewelry and magic and Performers and Pottery and Renaissance Festival and story telling and Vendors , , , , , , , giazzpet 10:14 am

We now have less than a month to go before Abbadia Mare Renaissance Festival I think even the gargoyles are getting excited!

Over 20 vendors with hand crafted goods such as pottery, clothing, leather, toys, jewelry and so much more!  Fabulous food from Nourish Lexington (http://www.nourishlexington.com) , Cucina Dolce and Kettle Master kettle corn!  Del’s Lemonade (frozen lemonade) will be there to quench your thirst!

There will be 12 performers to entertain you and your families (of all ages) which does include a Human Chess Match!  Come watch the Neville Companye http://www.rainasmind.com/neville/index.shtml battle it out and mark your hero with a ribbon!

We’d also like to thank The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine (http://www.boston.com), 96.9 Boston Talks http://www.969bostontalks.com/community.aspx, The Boston Phoenix Summer Guide http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Events/Search/?dt=2011-07-23&cat=Fairs+and+Festivals for upgrading our ad and so many more to count!

We’d also like to thank all of our hard working staff/crew/volunteers who will be there to help you if you need assistance!

Remember that all parking is located at Stage Fort Park for an additional amount of $15 per car and that Hammond Castle (http://www.hammondcastle.org) is a museum that benefits from this event!  Also note that Hammond Castle is not handicapped accessible, we also recommend leaving the baby strollers at home.

Hope to see you and your families at Abbadia Mare Renaissance Festival!  Huzzah!

 

 

Press Release for Abbadia Mare Renaissance Festival Thursday, May 26 2011 

Art and crafts and food and Hammond Castle and jewelry and magic and Performers and Pottery and Renaissance Festival and Vendors , , , , , , , , , , , , , , giazzpet 8:24 pm

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: PhinnVolt Enterprises

Name: Gia Volterra de Saulnier

Bringing back the Renaissance Festival to Hammond Castle

Abbadia Mare Renaissance Festival

By: Gia Volterra de Saulnier

Gloucester, MA –If you have never seen a Medieval Castle up close, you don’t need to go far to visit one if you live in the area of Massachusetts.  You can just go and visit The Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester, MA.  Plus if you love History and Festivals, this will be an extraordinary opportunity to do so.

PhinnVolt Enterprise’s Director Richard Saulnier and his wife Gia are thrilled about helping promote such a historic landmark, “We are just so delighted that Hammond Castle has given us this incredible opportunity.” Gia Saulnier stated.  “With the achievement of Winslowshire, the Castle seems to be the natural next step for us to take.”  Her husband Richard agrees “While we were creating this new festival, we were flooded with the buzz from the Community, along with vendors and performers who are really excited about coming back to Hammond Castle.”

There are over 20 vendors coming to this event, including: Silvermane http://www.silvermane.com/acatalog/index2.html , Mei Mei’s of Lexington http://www.meimeioflexington.com/index.html , The Stone Lady http://thestonelady.net/ and much more. There are also 12 performers confirmed which includes: The Neville Companye http://www.rainasmind.com/neville/index.shtml  doing hand to hand combat in shining armor, Misfits of Avalon http://www.misfitsofavalon.com/ , The Harper and the Minstrel http://www.theharperandtheminstrel.com/ are a few mentioned. There will also be fabulous food from Nourish Lexington, http://www.nourishlexington.com/, along with scrumptious brownies from Cucina Dolce and Kettle corn from The Kettle Master.

The two day event will be from July 23rd and 24th of 2011 from 11 am to 5 pm each day.  Admission is $12.00 for adults and $7.00 for kids ages 5 – 13 and kids under 4 will be free.  Parking will be located at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester for a fee of $15 will be charged per car to park and that a free shuttle bus will be taking visitors to the Faire at the castle.  People may not park at the castle or on Hesperus Avenue as they will be ticketed and towed, and that the Museum and PhinnVolt Enterprises are not responsible to pay their fines and towing fees.

For more information about the event, please go to the website at http://www.abbadiamarefestival.com

 

Bringing the Renaissance festival back to Hammond Castle Thursday, Mar 31 2011 

Art and food and Hammond Castle and jewelry and magic and Performers and Pottery and Renaissance Festival and Vendors , , , , , , , , , , giazzpet 8:16 pm

Abbadia Mare Renaissance Festival

Bringing the Renaissance festival back to Hammond Castle

 

By: Gia Volterra de Saulnier

 

You don’t have to imagine an amazingly beautiful castle against an ocean view; you can actually go visit a real one in Gloucester, Massachusetts called Hammond Castle (http://www.hammondcastle.org). Hammond Castle was created by John Hays Hammond Jr. who built this incredible medieval style castle according to the website: “in between the years 1926 and 1929 to serve both as his home and as a backdrop for his collection of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance artifacts”.

     John Hays Hammond Jr. was one of America’s premier inventors who patented over 800 ideas with 400 inventions.  One of the most famous today is the Remote Control over radio waves (so ladies, yes, you can thank John Hays Hammond Jr. for the Remote Control).  He also was a bit of unconventional person that loved throwing parties at this Castle of which were sometimes Renaissance themed, where people dressed in Renaissance or Medieval attire to come to these parties.

    To describe what a Renaissance Festival entails is difficult to put on paper, but mostly it is live interactive theatre in Vaudeville/Shakespearian format with entertainment and  music from the era. Add handmade crafts and goods with some good food and some historical magic to boot. However, don’t expect Historical accuracy, as most Renaissance Festivals are done with a lot of humor and puns all around.

    You will see actors dressed in the full attire of that time period(s) as they greet you and your families.  You can watch magic shows or see live fire eaters while perusing many hand crafted goods from art, fiber, pottery, stained glass and much more!  You can also have your small ones join in on the fun as they watch Knights battle it out with swords or Fairies wandering around with glittery wings. For this festival, you can expect to eat fantastic food from Nourish Lexington (http://www.nourishlexington.com) who will have chicken wings and ribs, and some vegetarian choices as well.  There will also be snacks available such as delicious brownies from Cucina Dolce and Kettle Corn.

   To bring back the Renaissance Festival it is important to keep the history alive for Hammond Castle, which is why they contacted Phinn-Volt Enterprises to create Abbadia Mare Festival.  Phinn-Volt Enterprises consists of Richard and Gia Saulnier, a husband and wife team, along with an remarkable crew of about 30 people, have been busy at work getting ready to put on a fantastic show called Abbadia Mare Renaissance Festival, John Hays Hammond Jr. named the Castle Abbadia Mare “Abbey by the Sea” , For the Castle was designed after a few Abbeys from Medieval Europe and it sits by the sea.

According to the website http://www.abbadiamarefestival.com “The Abbadia Mare Festival is a fundraiser for the Hammond Castle Museum. On July 23rd and 24th of 2011, we welcome you to please come and support our festival.  Perhaps you can be a part of our Human chess Match, or cheer on our knights as they do live steel combat.”

So far, they have 13 wonderful performers such as Misfits of Avalon (http://www.misfitsofavalon.com) , The Neville Companye (a Knight troupe that does hand to hand combat) (http://www.rainasmind.com/neville/index.shtml) , Diabolis in Musica (http://www.diabolisinmusica.com/index.html) a Medieval instrumental group that plays authentic medieval type instruments (very engaging as well) along with so many others. 

There will be many arts and hand made crafts from such vendors as: Ironwood Artisans http://www.ironwoodartisans.com, Parrish Relics http://www.parrishrelics.com, Wulfemoon Studios http://www.wulfemoonstudios.com and PupDog Pottery http://www.pupdogpottery.com to name just a few.

There is plenty of lodging available and if you go to http://www.abbadiamarefestival.com you can find a couple of hotels that have deals for this festival.

Abbadia Mare Renaissance Festival will be from 11 am to 5 pm per day and tickets are $12.00 for adults and $7.00 for kids from 5 – 12.  Kids under 4 will be free.  Tours of the castle will also be available for an additional cost.

For more information about this Renaissance Festival, please visit their website at http://www.abbadiamarefestival.com

 

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